Housing, health and cost of living priorities for Budget 2025, says Tánaiste

Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said housing, health and cost of living are priorities for Budget 2025.

Mr Martin told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland programme he supported the targeted measures and there was “a lot more we can do” to ease cost pressures.

“The cost of living is still very much on our minds as many families across the country are feeling the pressure of inflation over the past three years, especially after the start of the war in Ukraine.

“That has had a particular impact on energy and energy costs, which is a major problem for families and, of course, for businesses. And even though inflation is now down to 2% below that level, prices are at a very high level. And we are very clear that we have to look after people in the budget.”

Mr Martin would not confirm how many energy credits would be in the 2025 budget. The details are yet to be agreed in cabinet, but there would be one energy credit this year.

“The details of the budget and the social protection programme need to be worked out. But clearly in recent budgets we have been progressive in reaching the poorest and there is clearly a role for targeting. I would like to stress, however, that we have significantly reduced the costs of education and health care.”

A second tranche of child benefits is being considered, he said.

But there are already targeted measures that can help dependent children and families with low incomes or in special circumstances.

“We can do much more on disability, for example by combining tax and spending measures that would ease the financial pressure on disabled people and children with additional needs who have very high costs compared to others,” he said.

On the issue of the Apple tax, the Tánaiste said it presented opportunities to secure key investments in housing, water and energy network expansion.

“We have to plan ahead. We have enough capital now, but I think we have to give people confidence because if we want to get to 60,000 homes a year, we had 20,000 when this government came into office. Today we have close to 40,000 a year.

“The Apple money gives us an additional ability to say to people that if we earmark it for housing or a certain proportion of it for housing, we can future-proof housing spending for the next five years on the capital side, or at least support the investments that are needed over the next decade,” he said.

“We could, for example, capitalise the Land Development Agency, because we also receive funds from the AIB, which would be substantial. On top of the surplus. So the question will be how do we ensure consistency and certainty that housing is the number one issue.”

Asked about the North and Heritage issues, Mr Martin said he wanted an inquiry into the murder of Sean Brown.

“I see the dilemmas in general when it comes to inheritance. I think we lost about four years with the decision of the British Conservative government to unilaterally draft a new inheritance law. The current (British) government says it will repeal and replace it.

I have been in discussions with Hilary Benn about this and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has said that he is going to seriously amend this legislation. He has already dealt with the issue of immunity. He has already dealt with the issue of reopening civil cases and inquests, which I think is a good start and a good start, in fairness, for the new Secretary of State.

Mr Martin said he supported the Brown family and also supported a strengthened Legacy Act that would include an investigative service as well as an information retrieval service.

“And that’s the key problem, because there are many victims of Provisional IRA violence who have absolutely not moved on and 25 years of loyalist paramilitaries who have not moved on and state collusion.”

Asked when the next general election would be, Mr Martin said he wanted the current government to see out its term. There were still many bills he wanted to see through.

Mr Martin has made it clear that Fianna Fáil will not form a coalition with Sinn Féin. Not with him as leader.

“But it’s certainly not just me, it’s the party and the political alignment. The policies just don’t align with Sinn Féin. We’ve seen that recently on the housing issue and also the legacy issue that we talked about earlier,” he said.

“I think Sinn Féin needs to address the actions of the Provisional IRA and not triumph over them. We have a great opportunity for young people of this generation to have a broader philosophy and perspective in terms of violence and the use of violence for political ends. And I think we need to seize that opportunity.”

Mr Martin said he had no intention of retiring from politics “as long as there is hunger, anger and frustration over the failure of certain things, will I continue”.